From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- The native form of this personal name is Tóth
László. This article uses the Western name order.
Laszlo Toth (László Tóth in Hungarian) (born 1940), is an Hungarian-born Australian geologist. He achieved world-wide notoriety
when he vandalised Michelangelo's Pietà statue on May 21, 1972. Toth
was not charged with any criminal offence
after the incident. He was hospitalised in Italy for two years. On his release, he was
immediately deported to Australia, where he apparently
still resides.
Early
life
Little is known of Toth's early life, apart from his birth in
Hungary in 1940.
The
incident
Toth, wielding a Geologist's hammer and shouting, "I
am Jesus Christ — risen from the dead"[1][2][3
]
[4][5
][6],
attacked the statue, with fifteen blows[3
] removed the Virgin's arm at the elbow, knocked
off a chunk of her nose, and chipped one of her eyelids. He was
never charged with the crime, in view of his apparent insanity. On
January 29, 1973, he was committed to an Italian psychiatric hospital. He was
released on February 9, 1975, and was immediately deported
to Australia where he had studied prior to the attack; Australian
authorities did not detain him. He resides in a nursing home in
Strathfield, NSW, Australia.
Toth in literature and
popular culture
References
- ^
"Can Italy be Saved from
Itself?". TIME magazine. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,905967,00.html. Retrieved
2008-03-15.
- ^
"Notes and Queries: Whatever
happened to Laszlo Toth, the man who smashed Michelangelo's Pieta
in 1972?". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-2565,00.html. Retrieved
2006-06-08.
- ^
a
b "Chapel of the Pieta by
Michelangelo Buonarroti, 1499" (in English).
saintpetersbasilica.org. 23 September 2008.
http://saintpetersbasilica.org/Altars/Pieta/Pieta.htm. Retrieved 05 December
2009.
-
^ "On Negation: Bilderverbot –
The Prohibition Against Images" (in English).
www.christiancapurro.com. 16 September 2005. http://www.christiancapurro.com/archives/site_7_bernhard_sachs.php. Retrieved 05 December
2009.
-
^
Gamboni, Dario (in English). The destruction of art:
iconoclasm and vandalism since the French Revolution. http://books.google.com.au/books?id=60ba0VmXVM8C&pg=PA202&lpg=PA202&dq=Toth+%22Gamboni%22&source=bl&ots=R7_MIRMobC&sig=0uFxa1JZgmxYmJKK1FIL_vMptwA&hl=en&ei=8VAaS7e9O9GIkAX9qNTfAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=&f=false.
- ^
Evers, Chia (2006). "Laszlo Toth, "Jesus Christ,"
Attacks the Pieta (May 21, 1972)". Today in Odd
History. News of the Odd. http://www.newsoftheodd.com/article1024.html. Retrieved
2006-06-08.
- ^
"The Laszlo Letters (Don
Novello interviewed by Bob Garfield)". On the Media.
WNYC Radio. 2003. http://www.onthemedia.org/transcripts/transcripts_100303_lazlo.html. Retrieved
2006-06-08.
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